My fellow members of our Local Church:
The meeting we had last week at Sierra Madre --- with the Regional Bishops, the deans and the Council of Priests --- was extremely important. It brought together all the experience, reflection, the work and the planning that has taken place over the preceding years by all of you, indeed by everyone at the parish level who was involved in the parish viability study. I found our session last week to be very, very uplifting.
I told the group last week that in early July I was in Rome. Cardinal Sean O'Malley from Boston was also there. We were chatting about a number of things and I told him about our efforts to assure the viability of our parishes. I explained that we would be meeting in early November to discuss how we could serve such a growing Catholic community with fewer priests.
He looked at me and said, "I would gladly trade your problem for my problem." And I asked: "Well, what is your problem?" He responded: "We are having the same sort of gathering, but our gathering is to close 45 parishes." I said: "You're right; I'll take our problem." I added: "Besides it's not a problem. It's a challenge. It is a wonderful gift to have exploding Catholic populations, and we will find a way."
All of the parish councils and the regional pastoral councils and the commissioning today of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council are essential. I'm delighted that so many of the regional pastoral councils are making the establishment of the parish council one of your priorities. That is what makes this [Synod implementation] process work. We've got to have well trained, well organized pastoral councils at the local parish level in order to make the deaneries, the regions and the Archdiocese vital. So I appreciate what you are doing very much.
As I look forward to our coming years together, my vision focuses around three points. These are my governing priorities, my overarching concerns. I refer to them as the "Three C's." Two of the Three C's are emerging as the two keynotes or priorities of the pontificate of Benedict XVI. The third C is one of the enduring hallmarks of the pontificate of John Paul II.
So let me take the Three C's one after the other: Communion, Culture and Communication.
Communion
This is key to understanding Pope Benedict's vision of the Church. And there are all kinds of insights that we can discuss about this. But practically what it means is that people need to have a vital, vibrant parish community. Communion means that people sense that they belong to a community that has meaning for them; a parish community that nourishes and strengthens them.
And so in order to make sure that we have good, functioning, flourishing parish communities, we have moved forward, and we have been able to implement new forms of parish leadership. We are preparing Pastoral Associates and Parish Life Directors to meet the needs of our growing, wonderful Archdiocese. In your packets today is a copy of Serving Shoulder to Shoulder: Parish Life Directors in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles produced in our usual English/Spanish format. This document is the fruit of a lot of input and collaboration. It points to this new and emerging role of leadership among our lay members, deacons and Women Religious.
As much as we are dedicated to this, committed to this new form of parish leadership, as we discussed last week at Sierra Madre, we still need more ordained priests. We are a Eucharistic Church which gathers faithfully for the celebration of the Eucharist. We need to continue these efforts as well as to pray for and encourage more women to enter consecrated Religious Life for the good of the church.
In the first and only encyclical of our Holy Father so far, Deus Caritas Est, he speaks of the mystery of communion at the level of parish life and the Local Church in the following words, and I quote:
"The Church's deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God in word and deed (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable. For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being."
To put it simply, my vision for us as a Local Church is one in which we will live ever more deeply this communion through witness, worship, and service.
Culture
As you are aware, Pope Benedict has a deep concern for culture and its impact on human life, history, the world and the Church. Culture may be thought of as a web of elements that convey a people's basic sense of meaning, value and purpose. Culture is "second nature" to human beings. Wherever there are human beings, there is culture. Culture is central to the identity of a person and a group. But cultures differ. They are all different. And one cannot be shed and another taken on like changing from one pair of shoes to another.
In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles --- one of the most, if not the most, diverse archdioceses in the world in terms of ethnicity, language, religion and culture --- diversity is one of our greatest gifts and challenges. We've seen this increasingly with the widespread debate on immigration reform. We're well aware of the enormous numbers of immigrants who live here in our midst.
With respect to our treatment of cultural diversity, my vision of our Local Church, so rich in cultural diversity, is expressed in the inscription from the prophet Isaiah on the cornerstone of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels: "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
Communication
In addition to the great strides he made in interreligious dialogue --- particularly between Jews and Christians --- perhaps our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II's greatest legacy is in the area of communications. Communication of the Gospel, first and foremost. Like the Apostle Paul, Pope John Paul was the great evangelizer.
Recall that "Evangelization and the New Evangelization" is the first Pastoral Initiative endorsed by our Synod. This was articulated and explained again today. We need to continue this initiative in education, catechesis, ongoing formation, Bible Study, support groups and local based communities. We need to be attentive to the importance of "the New Evangelization" which, as our late Holy Father insisted, calls for a "fresh encounter with Jesus Christ." Pope John Paul II insisted this "fresh encounter with Jesus Christ" is the basis, the foundation, of any of our programs of evangelization.
We ask that each one of us look to the media and modern technology to proclaim that Good News. (That's why I'm wearing all this apparatus here today for podcast and other purposes. I hope they are still all running correctly.) We have to be aware of the importance of our technology, and we've got to be there in the front with it, not catching up later.
During the last couple of years as part of the Synod implementation process --- almost everything I do I try to see through the lens of Synod implementation --- I've been having these wonderful gatherings and dinners with priests from throughout the Archdiocese. We've had over 55 of them so far. The first round was all on evangelization.
With the leadership of several of our priests, there is a document coming out soon called "Directions in Evangelization." In this document the priests are describing actual models of evangelization and "the New Evangelization" already at work in their parishes. This is going to be a superb handbook. It's not asking anyone to do anything above and beyond what is already being done, but it is offering all of us in the Archdiocese examples and models of what is working in evangelization.
I was continually, joyfully surprised as we went around to these gatherings to find out there are very creative and innovative ways in which parishes are evangelizing. And that's another part of our communion. We need to share with each other what is going on in the Archdiocese and what is working well.
The late Holy Father John Paul II will long be remembered for his emphasis on evangelization and "the New Evangelization." And I have suggested and reiterated this to our present Holy Father: It would be great to have a world-wide Directory on the New Evangelization --- to bring together this line of thinking and some specific ideas for implementation.
So, as we move forward I see our Local Church moving forward on the Three C's of communion, culture expressed in a commitment to cultural diversity, and communication of the Gospel. With these three words I will bring my presentation to a close. I look forward to working with all of you, especially today, as we commission and inaugurate our new and our first Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. Thank you. The preceding talk was presented by Cardinal Roger Mahony at the Gathering of Synod Delegates and Archdiocesan Leaders held Saturday, Nov. 18, at St. Mel Church in Woodland Hills. |